The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i is not a new product. It's been around for a while and I've been using one on my desk for the last couple of years. It is an essential part of my office workflow and has reduced the amount of paper I need to retain to almost (but not quite) zero. Here's what I've learned along the way and why I recommend the ScanSnap S1300i.

More often than we’d like, our work tends to follow us outside the office. Thankfully, there’s OfficeSuite Premium. Winner of the PC Mag Editor's Choice Award, this mobile app gives you complete control over your office documents even when you’re on the go.

You can look up just about any instruction manual online, but since many products come with a printed copy consider keeping them in a binder for easy reference when needed and in case you ever want to sell the item.

We might live in the digital era, but tax time still feels like it involves a mound of paperwork. Here's what you really need and how long you have to hang on to it for.

If you're an organised type, then you probably already scan receipts printed on thermal paper (that glossy, fax-like stuff) because you know that ink on that paper fades over time. It turns out that could have an added benefit: the paper itself might be more than usually toxic.

Now you can create embeddable online versions of documents just by clicking send if you have an account with Docstoc. The service allows you to share Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat PDF files through a browser using Flash, which can also be embedded on third-party web sites. Sign up for a free DocStoc account with your email, use that address to send one or more files as attachments to [email protected], and you'll get an email back with links to your documents online which you can forward or embed. Most importantly, it works with anything that can send an email — you could even forward an attached document from your mobile device. Docstoc

Linux only: Tag and organise documents of nearly any kind and generate complete bibliographies with Referencer, a free utility for Linux systems. PDF files, office documents, saved web pages, and whatever else you have laying around can be tagged and organised, and you can enter the metadata needed for a bibliography report by hand, or have Referencer jump onto arXiv, PubMed, or CrossRe to see if any titles match up with what you're looking at. For those with a lot of nested folders' worth of documents or anyone harnessing Tux's power for academic pursuits, Referencer can be a great tool and freak-out-preventer. Referencer is a free download, available as source and pre-compiled for many Linux distributions. Referencer

Windows only: Easy Microsoft Word Properties is a helpful tool for anyone who uses Word documents' details listings—Author, Subject, Title, and the like—to keep their work organised or incorporate Word files into databases and spreadsheets. Install and run the application, point it to a folder and tell it which files to search for. In the next tab, all the standard properties of the documents returned can be edited in batch fashion, no right-clicking required. If nothing else, editing the "key words" line can be helpful in guiding along Windows and other search tools. Easy Microsoft Word Properties is a free download for Windows systems only. Easy Microsoft Word Properties

Even if you do all your banking online, there's still one ugly time of year when you've got to deal with a pile of financial paperwork, and that's tax time. If your accountant accepts forms via email, or you just want to save tax documents on your computer, you want a quick and easy way to do it. While most scanner workflows require several steps to digitise documents, the Fujitsu ScanSnap transforms paper into PDF with a single button press. No one wants to spend more time than they have to on receipts, 1099's and W-2's. Let's take a look at how to instantly capture tax-related and other important paperwork to your hard drive on April 15th and throughout the year with the ScanSnap.